Lost links & Re-ups

On any post, if the link is no longer good, leave a comment if you want the music re-uploaded. As long as I still have the file, or the record, cd, or cassette to re-rip, I will gladly accommodate in a timely manner all such requests.

Slinging tuneage like some fried or otherwise soused short-order cook

03 June 2013

Zimbabwe

Formed in 1977, the seven-piece Kasongo Band was comprised
of former Zimbabwean liberation fighters who were forced to seek exile in Tanzania before Zimbabwe’s independence. This is a
great example of chimurenga
from Zimbabwe.
But not the typical chimurenga.
Perhaps because the Kasongo Band started out while in exile in Tanzania, they
picked up local influences of other East African music that helped shape their
distinctive chimurenga sound.

After returning to Zimbabwe in 1980, the Kasongo Band
scored a number of hits singles throughout the 80s, while their 1989 album Soko
Murehwa sold more than 45,000 copies, leading them to a Group of the Year
award from a local club.

The band name on the back of the cover is Knowledge Kunenyathi & Kassongo
Band, highlighting the leader of the band, Knowledge K. Kunenyathi. He went
solo shortly after this record was cut. Some of his songs were featured on
the Zimbabwe Frontline Three. Ketai, the bands original leader, had already gone on to form the Simba Brothers together with Peter Majoni. Kentai wanted Knowledge to join the new Simba Brothers, but Knowledge wanted his chance to front the band. When he left to go solo, Marko took over the band. The original seven band members were: Ketai Muchawaya; Knowledge
K. Kunenyathi; Marko Sibanda; Lee Roy Lunga; Major Mirirai; Fainos Mapurisa; & Rex MotoMoto. As well as Knowledge, Ketai
Muchawaya & Marko Sibanda both went on to have solo careers. Lee Roy Lunga
later joined the Chazezesa Challengers. During their history, there were in all eighteen members of Kasongo Band.

Although they broke up years ago, the Kasongo Band remains known today for
their militant chimurenga style. Kasongo Hits, their greatest hits
album, was released by Gramma Records in 2001.

Today all seventeen of the eighteen band members are dead. Knowledge K. Kunenyathi is the only surviving member.

Thomas Tafirenyika
Mapfumo was born in 1945 in Marondera, a small town south of the
Rhodesian capital, Salisbury.
He spent his first ten years living a rural life with his grandparents, tending
cattle herds, waking up long before sunrise to do chores before school. Though Rhodesia
was moving inexorably toward racial civil war, Thomas was living an
old-fashioned, traditional life, mostly removed from the bitterness building in
the cities & townships.

Thomas moved to his father’s house in Salisbury at age ten. As a teenager he began
to perform as a drummer & singer playing cover tunes of US & British
pop tunes. He began to explore his cultural roots in the mid 70s when he
joined the Halleluiah Chicken-Run Band. Then he formed his own Acid Band which
evolved into The Blacks Unlimited. By this time he was immersed in the
chimurenga sound. Thomas’s lyrics reflected the concerns of the people around
him, hardships in the rural areas, young men heading into the bush to fight Zimbabwe’s
bitter war for independence, & the rising indignation at white rulers who
had systematically devalued Shona culture for many generations.

Although traditional children’s tunes, songs of celebration
accompanied by the drums called ngoma, & the sacred music of the
metal-pronged mbira, an instrument whose beautiful, cycling melodies could
summon the presence of ancestor spirits formed the basis of Thomas’s musical
upbringing, he both created & popularized chimurenga music. Chimurenga
(struggle) music captured the imaginations of Zimbanweans nation-wide during
this war.

Thomas is known as ‘The Lion of Zimbabwe’ & also
‘Mukanya’ (the praise name of his clan in the Shona language) for the political
influence he has wielded through his music. His slow-moving style &
distinctive voice is instantly recognizable to Zimbabweans. His is a force that
continues to shape the history & spiritual life of his country.

The Shona & Ndebele fighters were considered terrorists
by the US
& the other colonial powers, but despite the overwhelming odds, the rebels
could not be defeated. Near the end of the war, the out-maneuvered Rhodesians
arrested Thomas briefly. They attempted to use him to rally support for the
puppet regime as a last desperate attempt to hold on to some vestige of power.
But the tide of history had turned. In 1980, Robert Mugabe was elected President of the new nation.

That same year Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited shared the stage in Harare with Bob Marley
& the Wailers in celebration of Zimbabwean independence.

In 2007 Thomas’s music was officially banned in Zimbabwe by the government he
helped bring to power. His newest music included his sharp criticism of the
government of President Robert Mugabe. He currently lives in political exile
with his family & band in the US. Thomas continues to release
music speaking out against the tide of political oppression & intrigue that
is the corrupted rule of Robert Mugabe, who has morphed from freedom’s promise
to cruel despot.

All the information on the band line-up is on the back cover,
which I’ve included.

5 comments:

I could not share your excitement for the Zambian bands but there was enough good there that I could be happy. I liked The Blackfoot best.

ALL of the songs from Zimbabwe were very good. I had heard chimurenga before and your choices did not disappoint. This is why there are so many musicians in the world. Everyone likes something different.

So far I have liked Gambia, Ghana and Zimbabwe the most. I liked Morocco also but I already owned those.